31 New Jersey bands you need to hear in 2018

There are times during the year — usually around the chaos of summer concert season — when I lose a little touch with the local New Jersey music community. I forget just how great it really is.

But this annual rundown always brings me back, as we highlight the best few-dozen New Jersey bands trotting around the state and beyond, with hope that you’ll find at least one group to refresh your playlists and go see in Asbury Park, New Brunswick, Jersey City or somewhere else as 2018 rolls on.

So let’s just get right into it, folks: here are the 31 New Jersey bands you need to hear in 2018.

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Photo by Jake Feldman

Will Wood and The Tapeworms

The wildly talented and eccentric piano-rock group led by fantastical frontman Will Wood has cultivated a devout following of fans around Northern New Jersey — I saw a girl wearing a Will Wood and The Tapeworms shirt in Macy's last week — and with a new album on the way (the release show is Feb. 3 at Roxy and Dukes in Dunellen) and a load of touring dates (their live shows are freaking nuts) a band I continue to call the most interesting in New Jersey is en route to a huge 2018.

Listen if you love: Tom Waits, Gogol Bordello

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Photo by Brian L. Tice Jr.

Hodera

If you aren’t already listening to the devastatingly good Montclair band Hodera, here’s what you should do: Stop reading this right now. Go look this band up immediately. I’m pretty much begging you. Matt Smith’s killer folk-rock four-piece released the best New Jersey band album of 2017 in “First Things First” and will continue to tour on it in 2018. If you’ve ever felt feelings, this beautifully somber album is for you.